Pagan: Those Outside the Covenant
The term "pagan" has carried shifting meanings across centuries of religious and cultural discourse. From its origins to its theological deployment in Christian, Jewish, and Islamic traditions, the word consistently marks a boundary — identifying those who stand outside a given covenant community and its worship of the one true God.
The Biblical Portrait of Paganism
From a Christian perspective, pagans are generally considered as those who are of any religion that is not distinctly Christian. Meanwhile, Jews and Muslims also use the term to describe those outside their religion. Scripture, however, gives the concept a sharper theological edge. Paul describes the pagan as one who, despite an awareness of God revealed in creation, refuses to honour Him or give thanks — exchanging the truth of God for a lie and worshipping the creature rather than the Creator (Rom 1:18–25).
This trajectory of rebellion moves from suppression of revelation into idolatry and moral collapse: "God gave them over to shameful lusts" (Rom 1:26). The pagan, in Paul's analysis, is not simply ignorant but actively resistant — indulging in sensual gratification and the pursuit of happiness and pleasure to the exclusion of all else (Rom 1:28–32). The entire first chapter of Romans serves as Scripture's most sustained diagnosis of pagan existence apart from God.
Paganism is not the absence of worship but the misdirection of worship
Paganism and the Mission of the Church
The Old Testament repeatedly warns Israel against adopting the practices of the surrounding pagan nations — child sacrifice, divination, fertility cults, and the worship of Baal and Asherah (Deut 18:9–12; 1 Kgs 18). Yet Israel's prophetic tradition also looked forward to a day when the pagan nations would stream to Zion and acknowledge the Lord (Isa 2:2–4, 49:6).
The New Testament carries this missionary vision forward. Christ's Great Commission — "Go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you" (Mt 28:19–20) — charges the church with bringing the gospel to the pagan world. Paul understood his own calling as an apostle to the Gentiles, and his letters treat the gospel as the means by which pagans are summoned out of darkness and into light (Acts 13:46–48; Eph 4:17–24). The conversion of a pagan, then, is no mere relabelling — it is a thorough realignment of worship, desire, and identity.
The church's mission to the pagan is not condemnation but invitation — from false worship to true
Pagan, Heathen, and Infidel
Although the words pagan and heathen are often used interchangeably, "heathen" carries a stronger connotation of moral corruption — not just wrong worship, but the corrupted way of life that flows from it (Deut 18:9–12; Lev 18:24–25).
Another word identifying those outside the covenant is infidel. The infidel's fault is not primarily ignorance or idolatry but the willful rejection of a known revelation.
Reflection and Application:
- In what ways might contemporary culture mirror the patterns of paganism Paul describes in Romans 1?
- How does the biblical distinction between true and false worship challenge both religious and secular assumptions?
- What does it mean to love the pagan neighbour while remaining faithful to the gospel's exclusive claims?
- How can the church recover its missional identity as a community sent to those who do not yet know God?
See also: heathen, infidel, unbelievers.